Development of the church

Heresy It is a belief held by baptized Christians that denies, casts, or seeks to alter a Divinely revealed truth that has been set forth by the established Teaching Authority of the church. = Magisterium Heretics- Any such persons who so act and refuse to recant.

Dogma The term "dogma" derives from Greek words meaning "that which seems to one, opinion or belief" and "to think, to suppose, to imagine." It is most often used today to describe "strong opinions held as if they were unquestionable facts". In religion, dogma is a code of tenents, core principle, organized belief, or value held by a religion, group, or organization. Dogma ies a inarguable, undoubted, established opinion or long held belief followed strictly by believers or practioners. Dogma is a fundamental, theologically well demonstrated opinion or belief and the ultimate basis of organized religions like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Arianism Arianism Arius, priest of Alexandria, taught that Christ was a creature made by God. He was able to muster the support of many bishops, while others excommunicated him. Emperor Constantine convoked the first general council in the history of the Church. The Council of Nicaea held in year 325, was attended by 318 bishops, and it solemnly condemned Arius ad his movement, while designating the term homoousion, meaning consubstantial or of the same substance, describe the relationship of Jesus Christ to the God Father. The Council of Nicaea also gave birth to the Nicene Creed, which expresses the traditional beliefs of Catholics and is recited at every Sunday Mass.

Gnosticism The doctrine of salvation by knowledge. This definition, based on the etymology of the word (gnosis "knowledge", gnostikos, "good at knowing"), is correct as far as it goes, but it gives only one, though perhaps the predominant, characteristic of Gnostic systems of thought.salvationknowledge Perhaps the most influential among the early heretics were the Gnostics, composed of gentile Christians who attempted to combine some beliefs of Christianity with others derived from various Eastern religions. There were many varying tenets in Gnosticism, the main one being the belief that eternal salvation depends on knowledge (gnosis) of the divine rather than one faith or good works.

Modalism The Monarchians properly so-called (Modalists) exaggerated the oneness of the Father and the Son so as to make them but one Person; thus the distinctions in the Holy Trinity are energies or modes, not Persons: God the Father appears on earth as Son; hence it seemed to their opponents that Monarchians made the Father suffer and die. In the West they were called Patripassians, whereas in the East they are usually called Sabellians.Holy TrinityGod the FatherSon Another second-century heresy was called Modalism. Its error was in holding that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were not distinct Persons of the Blessed Trinity but simply three modes or manifestations of one Divine Person. This heresy was also quickly condemned by the church.

Marcionism Heretical sect founded in A.D. 144 at Rome by Marcion and continuing in the West for 300 years, but in the East some centuries longer, especially outside the Byzantine Empire. They rejected the writings of the Old Testament and taught that Christ was not the Son of the God of the Jews, but the Son of the good God, who was different from the God of the Ancient Covenant.sectRomeByzantine EmpireOld TestamentChristSonGod of the Jews An outgrowth of Gnosticism and similar to it was Marcionism, named after its founder, Marcion, a second-century Christian. He was excommunicated for his teachings, which included a denial of a relationship between the Old and the New Testament; a denial of the Incarnation, and a rejection of the validity of most of the New Testament.

Novatianism A schism that became a heresy. An outgrowth of Montanism was Novatianism, named after its founder, Novatian, a third-century Roman priest who opposed the election of St. Cornelius as Pope and set himself up as an antipope. Novatianists adopted a moral rigorism similar to that of Donatism. Those guilty of grave sin were excluded from the Church permanently, and absolution was refused to those guilty of the sins of murder and adultery. Novatian established his own church, one of whose essential teachings was that serious sinners were excommunicated and could never be readmitted to membership.

Subordinationism Still another second-century heresy was termed subordinationism, which held that while Jesus Christ was a distinct Person from the Father, He was subordinate to Him and thus on a lower scale in power and dignity. Some of the subordinationist sects regarded Jesus as only an adopted Son, and thus another name for this heresy was Adoptionism. A doctrine that assigns an inferiority of being, status, or role to the Son or Holy Spirit within the Trinity. Condemned by numerous church councils, this doctrine has continued in one form or another throughout the history of the church. In the early centuries, the struggle to understand the human and divine natures of Christ often led to placing the Son in a secondary position to the Father.

How did heresies helped shape the church The endless controversies with heretics have been indirectly the cause of most important doctrinal developments and definitions formulated in councils to the edification of the body of Christ. Thus the spurious gospels of the Gnostics prepared the way for the canon of Scripture; Gnostics Patripassian, Sabellian, Arian, and Macedonian heresies drew out a clearer concept of the Trinity; Patripassian, SabellianArianMacedonianTrinity the Nestorian and Eutychian errors led to definite dogmas on the nature and Person of Christ.NestorianEutychianerrorsdogmasnatureChrist And so down to Modernism, which has called forth a solemn assertion of the claims of the supernatural in history.Modernismsupernatural

MONOPHYSITISM

 in the year 446, eutyches began to teach that in Jesus Christ after the incarnation there was only one nature, a fusion of the divine and the human.  Monophysities, from the greek words monos meaning “one” and physis meaning “nature”.

in the year 484 the Patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated, which triggered a schism that lasted for thirty-five years. Monotheism was an outgrowth of monophysitism, a heresy maintaining that in Jesus Christ there was only one will. the heresy was derived from the greek words monos meaning “one” and Thelema meaning “will”. It was finally condemned by the third council of Constantinople in the year 681.

Pelagianism

In the fifth century. Pelagius, a monk and a theologian from Britain, promulgated the heresy known as Pelagianism. He denied the existence of original sin, and he held that it was possible to achive eternal salvation simply through human resources alone, such as reason and freewill, without the necessity of graces or the church. Pelagianism was condemned in the year 431 at the council of Ephesus.

Monothelitism

from Greek meaning "one will” is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of jesus, known as a Christology doctrine, that formally emerged in armenia and syria in 629 AD. Monothelitism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will. This is contrary to the more common Christology that Jesus Christ has two wills (human and divine) corresponding to his two natures.